Win32 - Select Directory Dialog from C/C++ - c++

Question

How to select an existing folder (or create new) from a native Win32 application?
Here is a similar question. It has a good answer for C#/.NET. But I want the same thing for native Win32.
Anybody knows a solution, free code, etc?
Update:
I tried the function from the answer. Everything worked as expected, except it is necessary to call the SHGetPathFromIDList function to retrieve the name of selected directory. Here is a sample screen shot:

Answer 1

SHBrowseForFolder
Do your users a favor, and set at least the BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE flag.
To set the initial folder, add the following code:
static int CALLBACK BrowseFolderCallback(
HWND hwnd, UINT uMsg, LPARAM lParam, LPARAM lpData)
{
if (uMsg == BFFM_INITIALIZED) {
LPCTSTR path = reinterpret_cast<LPCTSTR>(lpData);
::SendMessage(hwnd, BFFM_SETSELECTION, true, (LPARAM) path);
}
return 0;
}
// ...
BROWSEINFO binf = { 0 };
...
binf.lParam = reinterpret_cast<LPARAM>(initial_path_as_lpctstr);
binf.lpfn = BrowseFolderCallback;
...
and provide a suitable path (such as remembering the last selection, your applications data folder, or similar)

Answer 2

Just as a go to for future users, this article helped me a lot with getting a directory dialog in C++
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/2604/Browse-Folder-dialog-search-folder-and-all-sub-fol
Here is my code (heavily based/taken on the article)
NOTE: You should be able to copy/paste this into a file / compile it (g++, see VS in ninja edit below) and it'll work.
#include <windows.h>
#include <string>
#include <shlobj.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
static int CALLBACK BrowseCallbackProc(HWND hwnd,UINT uMsg, LPARAM lParam, LPARAM lpData)
{
if(uMsg == BFFM_INITIALIZED)
{
std::string tmp = (const char *) lpData;
std::cout << "path: " << tmp << std::endl;
SendMessage(hwnd, BFFM_SETSELECTION, TRUE, lpData);
}
return 0;
}
std::string BrowseFolder(std::string saved_path)
{
TCHAR path[MAX_PATH];
const char * path_param = saved_path.c_str();
BROWSEINFO bi = { 0 };
bi.lpszTitle = ("Browse for folder...");
bi.ulFlags = BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS | BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE;
bi.lpfn = BrowseCallbackProc;
bi.lParam = (LPARAM) path_param;
LPITEMIDLIST pidl = SHBrowseForFolder ( &bi );
if ( pidl != 0 )
{
//get the name of the folder and put it in path
SHGetPathFromIDList ( pidl, path );
//free memory used
IMalloc * imalloc = 0;
if ( SUCCEEDED( SHGetMalloc ( &imalloc )) )
{
imalloc->Free ( pidl );
imalloc->Release ( );
}
return path;
}
return "";
}
int main(int argc, const char *argv[])
{
std::string path = BrowseFolder(argv[1]);
std::cout << path << std::endl;
return 0;
}
EDIT: I've updated the code to show people how to remember the last selected path and use that.
Also, for VS, using Unicode character set. replace this line:
const char * path_param = saved_path.c_str();
With this:
std::wstring wsaved_path(saved_path.begin(),saved_path.end());
const wchar_t * path_param = wsaved_path.c_str();
My Test code above is compiled with g++, but doing this fixed it in VS for me.

Answer 3

For Windows Vista and above, it's best to use IFileOpenDialog with the FOS_PICKFOLDERS option for a proper open dialog rather than this tree dialog. See Common Item Dialog on MSDN for more details.